diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/boost/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/boost/package.py
index f62d66db1bc..d646967da03 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/boost/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/boost/package.py
@@ -129,6 +129,12 @@ class Boost(Package):
             description='Generate position-independent code (PIC), useful '
                         'for building static libraries')
 
+    # https://boostorg.github.io/build/manual/develop/index.html#bbv2.builtin.features.visibility
+    variant('visibility', values=('global', 'protected', 'hidden'),
+            default='hidden', multi=False,
+            description='Default symbol visibility in compiled libraries '
+            '(1.69.0 or later)')
+
     depends_on('icu4c', when='+icu')
     depends_on('python', when='+python')
     depends_on('mpi', when='+mpi')
@@ -335,6 +341,10 @@ def determine_b2_options(self, spec, options):
         if cxxflags:
             options.append('cxxflags="{0}"'.format(' '.join(cxxflags)))
 
+        # Visibility was added in 1.69.0.
+        if spec.satisfies('@1.69.0:'):
+            options.append('visibility=%s' % spec.variants['visibility'].value)
+
         return threading_opts
 
     def add_buildopt_symlinks(self, prefix):